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Arrival is not quite as good as Lair of the Shadow Broker. It lacks that piece of DLC's emotional engagement, and nothing in Arrival comes close to the sense of discovery you got while unveiling the true identity of such an iconic character. Still, that doesn't mean it is by any means bad or even mediocre. As Mass Effect 2 DLC goes, Arrival is about as good as Overlord, which I'd rate as an 8/10, with respect to the ground combat, and better in terms of the storyline's impact on the wider Mass Effect universe. Since the gameplay is mostly the same thing you've seen before, the final verdict relies heavily on how much you care about the Mass Effect universe. However, as this is the final piece of Mass Effect 2 DLC and because it follows the fantastic, but higher priced, Lair of the Shadow Broker, I can't help but feel that BioWare missed an opportunity here to create the ultimate piece of DLC to show the world just how you bridge the gap between two titles in a story-driven trilogy.

It’s great to get some more out of this title, especially with the next instalment looming on the horizon. Although Arrival will only take a few hours to finish, it definitely is worth purchasing and is an absolute must if you are a fan of this epic saga, as it will also give you an idea as to how Mass Effect 3 will begin. If you take Arrival in the context that it is supposed to be played, then it is a good addition to the Mass Effect universe. It may not be as explosive as Shadow Broker, but it does deliver some bang for your buck.

With Arrival Bioware are finished with Mass Effect 2 and they have delivered on their promise to support the game with new material until the very end, something you can't really say they succeeded in with the first game. We've previously gotten three very well crafted expansions that each delivered something relevant and exciting to an already awesome experience. Mass Effect 2: Arrival is no exception.

The seven-dollar price may be hard to justify based solely on time spent and substance outside of the story, but if you have been a Mass Effect fan this long and can't wait till the "final" installment, there's no reason you should not already have this downloadable content.

With the final debriefing at the end of the chapter, "Arrival" proves itself to be more of a patchwork setup for the future rather than a standalone piece of insight into the series' universe. This late in Mass Effect 2's life-cycle, "Arrival's" creation feels more like a reaction to the development of Mass Effect 3 than a key add-on that had been planned from the start. That's not to say add-ons always need to be pre-planned, just that without anything occurring directly after Arrival until Mass Effect 3 shows up, it feels incomplete. At 560 Microsoft Points, the add-on is a bit steep with its lack of content and for the casual player, but for the completionist who want to absorb the complete canon of the series and prepare for the next game, it's worth a stab.

Arrival is by no means the best DLC for Mass Effect 2, but it's also a very competent addition to our RPG of the Year 2010 - and more Mass Effect 2 is no bad thing. It adds to the story and gives Shepard more to do - and for anyone who seriously enjoyed Mass Effect 2 that has to come recommended.

Purchasing Arrival means there’s more to do in Mass Effect 2, and that’s always a good thing. It sets up the tone of urgency that’s prevalent in the Mass Effect 3 trailer, but don’t expect it to explain a lot. If you don’t mind combat-focused, linear missions, it’s worth the $7 or 560 Microsoft points.

After the brilliant Lair of the Shadow Broker episode though, it’s a shame that BioWare ends Mass Effect 2’s run on such a substandard piece of DLC... a piece of DLC that strips everything that we loved from the main game and left us with nothing more than a run-and-gun shooter. With next to no dialogue, no major choices and RPG elements to speak of and no squad interaction, the Arrival DLC unfortunately has left us with a sour taste in our mouth. Going out with a bang, BioWare? Hell no... I’ve had farts that were louder than that and more complex... Hey, at least Mass Effect 3 can’t be as distinctly mediocre as this, right?

I'm a big fan of Mass Effect and Bioware, but sadly, there's a whole lot of things wrong with The Arrival. Even though the combat is thrilling and the premise somewhat interesting, this DLC's very short and clumsily constructed story in detriment of gameplay makes skipping it an easy decision. You're better off giving Commander Shepard a little time off from active duty.

The true travesty of the whole narrative is that you end up exactly where you started at the start of Arrival. Bioware only offers up the illusion of morality as they cannot change the coming threat of the Reapers and it cheapens the entire ending in a very insulting manner. This is certainly not the way you want to remember Shepard over the coming months while waiting for Mass Effect 3. Players are looking at about 90 minutes of playtime with this DLC pack, heavy on the action and light on the dialogue. It definitely feel overpriced compared to the experience in Lair of the Shadow Broker and can easily be skipped without missing out on events that lead up to ME3. However if you are a Mass Effect 2 junkie, you might find a sliver of entertainment value in Arrival, assuming you love fighting solo and don't give a hoot about the story arc.

Throughout, it's hard not to see the ways this could have been made so much better. For all its controversy DLC is perfect for games like this, offering the chance to really capitalise on our organically evolving emotional investment with a sprawling fictional universe and its inhabitants; to provide a poignant bridge between one story and the next, an epilogue for adventures past and a promise of things to come. Instead we get this perfunctory morsel, where the narrative treads water as the action goes in circles. With his final act looming, Shepard deserved better.

Decent shooting does not make for a fitting finale to Mass Effect's second chapter, however--not when prior add-ons have set the bar so high. Compared to what has come before in this universe, Arrival is a husk--outwardly familiar, yet lacking the character and careful construction that give Mass Effect 2 its soul. This is how a game can suffer when the elements that make it special are remixed or removed. By withholding excellent characters, squad banter, and the element of choice, Arrival transforms Mass Effect 2 into a mediocre third-person shooter.

For a game so heavily reliant on the impact of choice and consequence, it's disappointing to realise you've got less sway on important decisions than the average Liberal Democrat. Clumsily side-stepping Mass Effect 2's key themes of companionship and consequence, Arrival feels a bit too much like an unwanted departure.

After spending an hour and a half going through Mass Effect 2: Arrival from start to finish, I'm a little puzzled as to why BioWare felt like this was a good way to close the books on Commander Shepard’s second game. Corridor shooting is not something I think a lot of players were hungry for more of, and the story elements in this mission carry little significance or emotion. For a piece of DLC that offers so little, $7.00 seems steep. Save some hard-earned money and watch the videos of it on YouTube instead… the most relevant bits can be seen in a minute or two, and those Microsoft points can instead be spent on something more substantial.